


Endure

by gingayellow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 23:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10909629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: Shiro and Keith will always come back to each other. [Shiro/Keith, spoilers for season 2, what will eventually be an alternate version of season 3 @_@ Some content warnings for violence]





	Endure

Title: Endure  
Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender  
Characters/Pairing: Shiro/Keith  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: None  
Notes: The obligatory post-season 2 AU. ;P It’s been ages since I’ve written anything (long story short: grad school ate me), so this might feel a bit forced/stiff, but that happens. Content warnings for violence.

\--

_He was lost._

_The images (memories?) were too many and too much. Any sense of sense was subsumed by everything he was witnessing/living. First, he was seeing the Galra homeworld before its destruction. Then Zarkon’s coronation. Then Zarkon comforting Alfor at his wife’s grave. Then an Altean woman smiling at Zarkon coldly, her arm outstretched. Then shadowy figures in yellow, blue, green, fading into nothing._

_And then…._

_**shiro…** _

_Zarkon was murdering his council, so one whisper was, of course, going to get lost in the screams of the Galra nobility begging their emperor for their lives. Even if it sounded familiar._

_**SHIRO** _

_Keith._

_He… he couldn’t stay here. Keith needed him. His team needed him. The universe needed him._

_So, somehow, he followed Keith’s voice through the cacophony around him and found his way home._

\--

Shiro was back in the Black Lion’s pilot, right hand grabbing his bayard.

But of course he was, because they were fighting Zarkon, and then he… he remembered a little, but…

Great. More murky memories. Exactly what Shiro needed in his life. 

“Shiro!” Suddenly, Lance was there, eyes bright and grinning ear to ear. Between his reaction and the fact that he was still alive, Shiro let himself hope that maybe they’d finally beaten Zarkon.

Shiro smiled back as he stood up. “It’s good to see you, too Lance—” He was startled, but didn’t pull away when Lance grabbed him in a tight hug. The last fight had been scary, after all. “Could you explain what just happened, though? We were in space fighting Zarkon, and… and I think we won?” Won enough that Lance was back in the hanger and smiling, at least. “What about the others?” 

“Pidge and Hunk are still with Slav. Coran, too. Allura’s talking to Kolivan. And before you ask anything,” Lance cleared his throat as he finally pulled away (but only a little), “Keith is definitely still alive.”

If someone felt the need to assure you that your friend was still alive, that usually meant something had happened to them that had almost killed them recently. “What happened to Keith?”

“Dang it, Hunk, this is why you should’ve come with me. You can explain nerd stuff way better than me,” Lance huffed to himself. Then he returned his attention to Shiro. “After you, well. After you disappeared, we were all trying to find you.”

“Except I wasn’t in this world,” Shiro finished for him. That much he could piece together.

“Yep, pretty much. Things looked bad until Slav, Hunk, and Pidge found a way to get you from whatever dimension the Black Lion tossed you into so Zarkon couldn’t mess with your brain anymore.” Lance led the way as they left Shiro’s Lion, and started heading for the hanger bay doors. “But the thing they built needs a lot of power, and—”

“Keith,” Shiro breathed, and broke into a run. He’d fought Zarkon; he knew full well that quintessence could power all sorts of things, fuel feats that should have been impossible. And of course Keith would volunteer to let the others **drain his life away** just to save Shiro. And Keith was strong, stronger than anyone Shiro knew, but he had to help Keith, he couldn’t just—

A sudden wave of dizziness hit Shiro, and he stumbled over his own feet.

“Geez, Shiro!” Lance sprinted over to him, helping Shiro sit up. “Are you dead?!”

“No. Just tired.” He suspected it was something to do with the fact that he hadn’t physically existed for awhile, but it didn’t matter. He needed to make sure Keith was okay. “Lance, help me up. Then we need to go to Keith’s pod, so I can see where he is in the healing process—”

Lance laughed bitterly as he assisted Shiro to his feet, letting Shiro lean on his left side. “Man, don’t I wish. But every time we tried to convince him to enter a pod, he’d just snap that he was going to be here for you when you came back.”

… That brave, **foolish** Paladin of his. “Has he gotten any sleep at least?”

“Oh, yeah! Slav read him some lullaby quadratic equation thing, and he was out like a light. Hunk’s been keeping an eye on him.” Together, they staggered to the doors. “But I’m willing to bet he’d wake Keith up to see you.”

Shiro was just about to say that no, Keith deserved to sleep, when Keith threw himself at Shiro. The three of them went down, but Lance had the sense to roll to the side and to Hunk, who was yelling at Keith to be careful, he wasn’t exactly one hundred percent right now. Pidge was right behind Hunk, screaming something about Keith needed to be connected to her machines. She and Hunk froze when they saw Shiro.

So no one stopped Keith from clinging to Shiro for dear life. Not that anyone could, of course.

It was selfish, because Keith had virtually given his soul so Shiro could return, but Shiro took a moment to hold Keith back. “It’s good to be back.” What else could he say?

“It’s good to have you back,” Keith mumbled against his chest. Good. They were talking. Reminding themselves that no matter what happened, they would always return to each other… except now Keith was shaking, cold to the touch, and no, everything about this was wrong, this was too much for even Keith to bear.

“We need to get you to a pod,” he said as he helped Keith up. Hunk, thank goodness, put his vest around Keith’s shoulder—and then scurried away, as if he was afraid he was interrupting something. Shiro made a mental note to express his gratitude to him (and everyone else) once Keith was safe.

Keith frowned at him. “I’m not going in a pod. You—”

“I know, but you saved me.” Gently, Shiro led him down the corridor. He was vaguely aware of Hunk hovering behind them, and Lance and Pidge chattering to Allura on Lance’s comm. “And I promise, I’m not going anywhere.” Guilt washed over him as they made their way around a corner. “If something happens to you, I don’t know what I’d—”

“Shiro.” Even now, half-dead and trembling, Keith could make his world go still with a glare. “We’re a team. You’re as important as anyone else. And I’m not going to just—just close my eyes and leave you alone—”

Oh. Oh, of course. “Okay, let’s try a compromise. If Coran looks you over, and says you’re okay, then no pod. And even if he says you’re not okay, we’ll figure something out that doesn’t require a pod.” He wanted Keith to recover quickly, but he wouldn’t force him into a pod. They had medical supplies—Coran’s bout of the slipperies had proven that. Keith would recover, but it would take longer. 

But Shiro would be there for him, just like Keith had been for Shiro.


End file.
